Lego has decided it's time to break down the blocks and start again. The company said it would lay off 8 percent of its global workforce, which means cutting 1,400 jobs and revamping its business after reporting its first fall in sales in more than a decade on Tuesday.

After using new ventures such as films and new toy lines to build up sales since a near-bankruptcy in 2004, the company seems to have hit a peak. Its sales are now falling, and it says it needs to simplify its operations.

The Danish toymaker announced a 5 percent decline in the first six months of the year to $2.4 billion, mainly as a result of weaker demand in key markets such as U.S, and Europe, where sales had risen strongly for years. Profit slipped 3% to $544 million. Sales related to its Star Wars line declined slightly but classic toy lines, such as "Lego City," did well, as did productsassociated with "The Lego Batman Movie." Plus, the company receives licensing fees from the popular Warner Bros. films and video games that bear its name.

Lego said it could not promise a return to growth in the next two years, a harsh reality for a group widely admired for embracing the digital era and tying up lucrative franchises ranging from Harry Potter to Minecraft.

"We have now pressed the reset-button for the entire group. We will build a smaller and less complex organisation than we have today, which will simplify our business model in order to reach more children," executive chairman Joergen Vig Knudstorp said, acknowledging the business had grown too complicated.

He would seek a return to a leaner and more efficient organisation to respond to "losing momentum… which we think could ultimately lead to stagnation or even decline. "